Bowhead Whale

Description:

Fine art illustration of a Bowhead Whale. The print is hand-signed by the artist and is guaranteed to arrive in perfect condition. The reproduction of this original pen and ink drawing is done on high quality acid-free archival paper. Call 1 800-913-7906 for more information or to order by phone. Click here for shipping info.

Bowhead Whale Art Print

A high res digital version of this image may be purchased and downloaded. The artwork may also be licensed for commercial use such as advertising, packaging, displays and other printed materials.

Class: Mammalia

Order: Cetacea

Family: Balaenopteridae

Genus: Balaena

Species: B. mysticetus

Artist's notes:

The Bowhead Whale was completed on 4.30.2012. This is the first official state marine mammal I've completed for the project I'd started - to complete drawings of all state mammals of the US. Drawing whales can be tricky, as few reference photos exist because the subject is one that of course is a challenge to capture. So I used a number of images - both photos and drawings - to help me create this illustration.

Information about the Bowhead Whale:

The Bowhead Whale - also called the Greenland Right Whale or Arctic Whale) is a large marine mammal native to the cold oceans of the Arctic. It is a baleen whale, which are characterized as having baleen plates for filtering food, rather than having teeth. It grows about 66 feet long (20 meters) and weighing up to 74 long tons (75 tonnes.) This makes them one of the heaviest of the whale, even though there are some species that are longer. It is also distinctive as it has the largest mouth of any animal on the planet. While the Bowhead Whale was hunted for many decades, the decline of whaling and protection had lead these cetacean's numbers back to a stable population and they are not considered threatened. The whales are still hunted by native peoples of the Arctic, but only on a subsistence level.